Angela, Becca and I hope you’re having an amazing holiday season full of family, friends, good food and special memories. We are so grateful for your visits, kind words of support, and trust in us. We love serving the writing community through this blog, One Stop for Writers, books, and … [Read more...] about Happy Holidays – Some Gifts for You
Search Results for: dialogue
Write a Novel in 13 Steps
Every writer’s journey is unique, but we all experience one iconic moment: the decision to stop thinking about writing a book and actually do it. And then? Euphoria. Finally, our ideas will live on the page! We imagine characters, plot twists, and future readers clutching our book, unable to put … [Read more...] about Write a Novel in 13 Steps
Three Ways to Make Readers Care About Secondary Characters
A common mistake I see in client manuscripts is a cast of secondary characters that simply exist to help or to outright block the protagonist. They’re either ready, willing, and able to drop everything to help that protagonist reach their own goal. Or they’re a character who is out to make the … [Read more...] about Three Ways to Make Readers Care About Secondary Characters
How To Write A Psychological Thriller Without Frying Your Own Brain
Writing A Psychological Thriller Whether you're a fan of the genre or looking to try your hand at writing one, a psychological thriller can be fun to both read AND write. But what goes into making these stories so captivating? A psychological thriller is a story that combines elements of … [Read more...] about How To Write A Psychological Thriller Without Frying Your Own Brain
Writing Techniques: Use and Abuse of “Lampshading”
As storytellers, we usually want to keep readers immersed in our story. However, we’ve probably all written lines that we worry will break readers’ suspension of disbelief, such as with story events that might feel too cliché, coincidental, or incongruent. Obviously, we can try to fix the issue by … [Read more...] about Writing Techniques: Use and Abuse of “Lampshading”
Keep Tensions High by NOT Resolving Your Character’s Relationship Conflict
When it comes to story conflict, there are so many options to choose from. Power struggles, physical threats, moral dilemmas, failures, ticking clocks—they’re all great for ratcheting up tension, building reader empathy, and strengthening our plotlines. But the conflict we face most often as human … [Read more...] about Keep Tensions High by NOT Resolving Your Character’s Relationship Conflict
Overwhelmed with Revisions? Use This Roadmap to Stay On Course.
Is there a better feeling in the world than finishing a manuscript? Typing The End, gazing lovingly at the overall word count, and recognizing you’ve accomplished something that not many people can do…you’re floating on cloud nine, and all is right with the world. And then come the … [Read more...] about Overwhelmed with Revisions? Use This Roadmap to Stay On Course.
How to Build Sizzling Sexual Tension in Your Novel
Writing Sexual Tension Are you tired of writing boring and uneventful romance scenes? Do your readers seem disinterested or even put off by the lack of chemistry between your characters? Fear not! In this post, I am going to explore how to build sizzling sexual tension in your novel that will … [Read more...] about How to Build Sizzling Sexual Tension in Your Novel
The Link Between Character Thought and Credibility
Readers come into a story eager to greet a new world, willing to temporarily suspend their belief in the way the world works to explore your vision of the alternatives. They place their trust in you to make it feel plausible. Could that character really turn into a fly? Would this one really give up … [Read more...] about The Link Between Character Thought and Credibility
5 Ways to Crash Your Character’s Pity Party
We generally craft characters with the intention of making them someone the reader cares about. One of the primary ways to achieve that is to tap into reader empathy, and that’s largely achieved by showing what the character lacks in their “ordinary world” life. But sometimes, we unintentionally … [Read more...] about 5 Ways to Crash Your Character’s Pity Party
Why Readers Love Anti-Heroes
To understand why readers love anti-heroes, we first need to define what they are. An anti-hero is a flawed, complicated character who thrives in shades of gray. They play the hero of the story, but rarely, if ever, follow conventional expectations of heroism. Anti-heroes aren’t new. One of … [Read more...] about Why Readers Love Anti-Heroes
The Importance of a Great Opening in a Novel
How you start your story is super-important, which is why your novel's opening is crucial. In just a few sentences - yup, sentences, never mind pages! - you need to GRAB your reader's attention and pull them into your storyworld. But HOW do writers do this? Well, how long is a piece of string ... … [Read more...] about The Importance of a Great Opening in a Novel